Chapter 56: The Power of Ritual Magic

The strength of the gravitational pull of the black hole was not accurate to a real black hole. If that had been the case, everyone would have long been dead. In fact, the gravitational sphere contained some anomalies—the gravitational pull was only felt within a certain radius of the sphere, outside of which almost nothing was felt. Based on her observations and their own situation, Aliyah calculated roughly the area they needed to avoid to escape the effects of the black hole.

Since the group had stopped at the plaza, it had saved their lives. If they were any closer, they would not have had the time or power to save John. Other adventurers may not have been so lucky (or unlucky, for they could have sauntered past it unknowingly and safely). For now, the group kept this buried in their hearts, and Sen silently accepted he may not see all those he counted at the center of the city.

Sen’s perception power may have been part of the reason for his strangely accurate instincts.

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Ability: [Sharp Insight]

Essence: Zeal

Awakening Stone: Insight

Perception

Cost: None

Cooldown: None

Effect (Iron): Perceive hidden dangers.

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The ability was intended to sense hidden traps, such as trap magical abilities, or those disguised with invisibility or other stealth skills. It didn’t see through them outright, but was enough to grant a sense something was off, enough to save your life in moments of crisis. It, however, shouldn’t account for Sen’s uncanny instinct. No matter how much Aliyah poured over Sen with rituals or inspections, she never found an alternative explanation. Whether it was something intrinsic that he was born with, something cultivated through training, granted to him through his ability, or a combination of all three, Aliyah had no conclusive answer.

Having spent many years as Sen’s external magic mentor, Aliyah attained a single conviction: When Sen says something is off, something is definitely off.

As they passed through the street painted it black as if they stood over a void and into the next town, the cityscape changed once again. Black gave way to transparent buildings: living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms revealed within like glass terrariums. Bookcases emptied of books, gardens of artificial flowers; everything was clean, immaculate, and lifeless. The whole region was model-like in a way, a look inside daily life. The buildings themselves were entirely impractical in ways of privacy. Thankfully, none of them needed the privacy for…business, for that was business essence users no longer conducted.

Sen’s frown deepened, and Aliyah’s unease grew. She kept silent, observing.

They stopped.

There was a dividing line of white drawn between the boundary where black material completely disappeared to transparent buildings. It crossed over alleys, across the main pathway leading down to the next circle, over and above buildings, the only mark on the transparent walls.

“This is new,” Eufemia observed, “The trial hasn’t told us where one section begins and another one ends before.”

“Yes,” Sen said.

“I don’t like it,” Eufemia said, “Not one bit.”

According to Aliyah’s calculations, the dividing line was thankfully outside of the range of the gravity sphere, granting them a reprieve.

“What do you think this trial is then, Sen, another strange sphere moving in a circle?” Vallis asked.

“It’s possible.”

Aliyah paced contemplatively, then turned to John, “John, you called the previous sphere a black hole. Why is that?”

John groaned, “I’m all about learning, but I really dread having to explain this to you all.” He beckoned them in with a wave. “You all might as well listen.”

John jumped up and down, causing the others to look at him oddly. He held a hand up, then started his explanation.

“In Nara and my world, we call the force that brings us back to the ground ‘gravity’. Before you ask, gravity is not a function of magic, it is a function of how the world works, without magic. Like…for example, wood floats in water, even without magic. Do you know why that is?”

“An equivalent amount of wood weights less than the same amount of water,” Aliyah said, “John, we know about density.”

“Oh, I’m glad. But, how do you define density? We call density mass per volume. Now, I know you fellows don’t know about mass, since if you knew about gravity you’d know about the difference between mass and weight.”

“Mass?”

“Mass is the amount of ‘stuff’ in an object. Weight is actually the amount of force acting on an object with mass. Ah, right! Aliyah, when you apply slow fall to an object, or weightlessness, you’re aware that the object hasn’t loss any of what it is?”

“You mean, you’re not any less of you when you use a slow fall power?” Sen answered instead, “And when you stop using your slow fall power, you return to your original weight.”

“Ah,” Aliyah realized, “We call that aspect echo of weight. Despite reducing the weight of an object to zero so that it floats, it is still difficult to move. You’re saying the reason why is because it has mass?”

“That’s right. To give another example, our world measures mass in grams. How we measure it doesn’t matter, but that is what we use. Going back to our density example, density is measured in grams per liter—mass per volume.”

“I see,” Aliyah said, “I’m starting to understand what you are trying to communicate, John.”

“To add on a little more, gravity is measured as meters per second squared.”

“Acceleration,” Aliyah said, “This we understand as well.”

Units were automatically translated to Erras’ local equivalent, if they had an equivalent word. Otherwise, they were learning a new term.

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“You do?”

Eufemia rolled her eyes, “We know how to throw and launch objects, John. We’re aware that not everything travels at the same speed all the time.”

“Let’s wrap this all up then, my temporary and curmudgeonly students. To summarize, mass is measured in grams for the amount of ‘stuff’ in an object, and gravity, a form of acceleration, is measured in meters per second squared. Weight is a type of force and force is calculated as mass times acceleration.”

“A type of force?”

“Before I answer that, have you tried to drop two completely different objects from the same height?”

“Don’t ask and just demonstrate, John.”

John removed a pebble from his inventory then a much larger stone, “Encio, can you take this to the top of that veranda, then conjure that frozen platform of yours and place them on top? On my mark.”

“Easy enough.”

Encio deftly scaled the wall of a transparent building, landing on one of the verandas. He held out both of his hands holdings the pebble and the rock.

“I have a primer question: If Encio were to throw both rocks at you with equal speed, which one would hurt more?

“The larger rock, obviously,” Eufemia said.

“Keep that in mind. Now, I want you to see which object hits the ground first: the pebble or the rock. Encio, conjure that platform and place both rocks on top away from each other. Then, let the platform disappear and let both rocks fall.”

He did so. Since the de-conjuration of Encio’s Frozen World ability was uniform, John got the fabled perfect timing that he wanted.

Both stone and pebble clattered to the floor.

“They hit at the same time,” Aliyah observed, “as far as my eyes could determine.”

“So? What does this mean?” Eufemia asked.

“If both rocks fall with equal speed but the larger rock hurts more, than there must be another variable other than acceleration,” Aliyah said, “Mass.”

“We all instinctually know what hurts more,” John said, “The larger rock has more force.”

“And force is mass multiplied by acceleration,” Aliyah said, her thoughts racing.

“Thus,” John said, “The difference between mass and weight. Even if you reduce the weight of both rocks to zero—”

“—They have no force, but still have mass.”

“Right on!”

“I know you’re having an epiphany here, Aliyah, and I am happy for you, but John, how does this relate to that black hole thing that almost killed you?”

“So, do we all more or less understand gravity and mass?”

“If Aliyah understands it,” Eufemia said, “That’s good enough. I’ll pass on ‘expanding my mind’. I have enough to work on,” she muttered.

“I mentioned that gravity exists but not why it exists. Gravity exists because mass generates gravity. I can’t describe why, only those in fields of science, no…research remember and understand why. But just remember that it does.”

“And?” Eufemia said impatiently.

“A black hole is a super dense mass. The densest and most massive object in existence.”

“Therefore, it has great gravity,” Aliyah said.

“That answers why it almost killed you,” Eufemia said, “but why is it black!?”

“It is so dense, so massive, that it pulls in light itself,” John said, “Hence, black hole and darkness. In my world we’ve observed the effect of black holes in space,” John said pointing at the ceiling and moving his hand across the ceiling to conjure up the expanse of space in their minds; he didn’t have an ability to conjure an illusion for his storytelling. “It bends light. It is so dark that we cannot see it, we see what is around it. Black holes consume everything. We’ve seen it consume worlds, galaxies, from light years away,” John stared wistfully at the sky, “I’m only now realizing how amazing it is to know all this.”

“I completely understand,” Aliyah said. “I would like to visit your world, if offered the chance.”

“Of course, be my guest. I’ll introduce you to my family. And all the knowledge of our world—well, let’s start with a library first.”

“So all we got from this is the buildings were black to demonstrate it was a black hole or whatever,” Eufemia said, “Great. Now what? We still know nothing about this next freaky circle.”

”We take it slow,” Sen said, “and proceed in pairs while staying behind cover.”

“Proceed in pairs?”

“The most mobile will walk in front, then in pairs behind.”

The did, slowly venturing into the transparent, glass like city. They stuck to walls, pairs dashing across the open, revealing street. The furthest behind was Hugh, who had the least number of movement abilities, but kept his eyes on those in front prepared to intervene, at silent attention.

Encio steadied himself on the side of a building.

“What’s wrong?” asked Eufemia.

“I feel faint and dizzy,” Encio said, “I shouldn’t. Do you?”

“I do too,” Eufemia said with a frown.

“Back up,” Sen commanded, “It may be poison gas.”

The team returned to the white dividing line.

“Do we have any cleansing abilities?”

Everyone shook their heads.

But after a few breaths, they all felt better.

“Can it be a short duration poison?” Sen proposed.

“Colorless, odorless poison?” Aliyah said, “I suppose its possible. But if the effect is just dizziness, the effect isn’t very potent.”

“John, do any of us need healing?”

John shook his head.

The team sat in another plaza, thinking and proposing other ideas.

“Just a thought, what if we all just run through? Hope we get lucky,” Vallis said.

“You really think that’s a good idea?” Eufemia said.

“While the black sphere was with us, those on the opposite side could have easily bypassed it entirely by running,” Vallis said, “It may be a simple method, but simple methods work.”

“I don’t like to leave it to luck,” Sen said.

“I know you don’t. But sometimes adventurers need to get lucky. Or—” Vallis leaned in, “—be courageous.”

“Vallis may have a point,” Aliyah said, “If the poisonous gas doesn’t inflict any damage but induces dizziness, running through before we do is an option. Perhaps, we could even hold our breaths to prolong the duration.”

“Wait—you said holding your breath?” John suddenly stood up, “I’m going to check something.”

“What?”

“I didn’t feel dizzy,” John said. “I don’t breathe anymore.”

“So? Good for you. You almost died and don’t need to breathe. That’s just one step removed of actually drowning yourself. I don’t know what’s worse.”

“But what if I do, intentionally?”

“You’ll get dizzy.”

“Or maybe…” Aliyah said, “He won’t.”

John winked at Aliyah, “I like the way you think. You think like me, or maybe I’m thinking like you.”

Aliyah chuckled, “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

John walked forward, Encio ready to dash forth at a moment’s notice to collect John.

John spun around, sucking in deep breaths he now knew he did not need. How he even did so without lungs baffled him.

“I’m really so bloody magical. So magical I don’t poop,” he chuckled.

“John?” Aliyah called out, “How are you?”

“I’m perfectly fine. I think I have the answer.”

He walked back to the group sitting down.

“Good news, there’s no poison in the air. Bad news, it’s not that there’s something extra, it’s what’s missing.”

“Don’t be coy and spill it. You’re really enjoying this teacher thing, aren’t you?”

“It’s nice to feel knowledgeable for once,” John admitted, “After an entire year entirely clueless.”

“You’re still clueless.”

“Case in point.”

“Cut the chatter,” Vallis said. “I want to beat this trial. What exactly is missing?”

“More science from my world,” John said with a sigh, “Why do we all need to breath? Except Nara and I.”

“We need to, to live,” said Sen.

“Why?”

“The breath of life,” Sen said.

“What?” John said, his momentum suddenly paused.

“The air has the breath of life, and we need it to live,” Sen said again.

“That’s…not inaccurate,” John said slowly. “On Earth, we have a word for this breath of life—oxygen.”

“We call it different things, so what?” Eufemia said.

“On my world, we’ve figured out that the air has many different materials in it, not just oxygen—or, the breath of life,” John said. “Remember how you mentioned that odorless, colorless poison? Imagine that air is formed of many different materials, but they are not poison.”

“I understand,” Aliyah said, “The air is made up of many materials that we cannot see, not just one material.”

John nodded, “The air in that region is missing the breath of life. We can still breathe, but our bodies don’t get the…breath it needs. It’s like water,” John said, “Higher rank essence users don’t need it, but we all need to drink it before that, right? And if we don’t get water after long enough, we die of dehydration.”

“That’s at least the same,” Eufemia said.

“You could say the reason why we breathe is because we need to breathe oxygen to live—” He pointed at Eufemia, “—At iron rank, that hasn’t changed, yet.”

Vallis crossed her arms, “Does any of this change what we have to do?”

“What?”

“We should just hold our breaths and run through.”

“We don’t know what the sphere does in this zone. Is that really wise?” Aliyah said.

“Wise? No of course not. But do adventurers always choose the wisest answer? The way of the wise is not our way.”

“Heidel shit. You just can’t think of a better solution,” Eufemia countered.

Vallis grinned, “You found me out.”

Sen shook his head, “You would do well for you to brush up on your ritual magic again. Aliyah, you have a solution?” he said with a tone more statement than question.

“Indeed I do Sen,” she said, “There is a particular ritual magic used for underwater battles or traversal for those that do not have abilities suited for water. It’s quite the handy spell. What it does is generate a sphere of air that doubles as air to breathe and a barrier against water.”

She put her hands on her hips, glowing with pride although she kept her excitement contained, “This is the power of ritual magic.”